On a blustery day at the Newquay Sports Centre Roseland travelled to Newquay for the penultimate game of the first half of the season. They arrived with a bare 15, including 6 front row players in the pack, a lock and a hooker as flankers and a back 3 who have played only a handful of games between them.
During the morning on the Roseland there had been a constant heavy downfall of rain but once arriving at Newquay there appeared to of been very little rain but plenty of wind that was blowing straight down the pitch from the sports centre. The wind was going to be a key factor in the game.
Roseland received the kick off playing into the wind. The first half was going to be a case of up the jumper rugby for Roseland. Unfortunately for the makeshift Roseland team they struggled to retain possession of the ball for long periods and in the opening 20 minutes conceded 5 tries and several conversions. During the middle of the half Roseland both managed to string together several phases of play and kept Newquay at bay from their own line. A factor throughout the whole game that Roseland could be pleased with was how well the scrum operated, constantly shoving Newquay backwards and winning a few against the head. Towards the end of the first half Newquay grabbed a couple of extra converted scores to bring the score to 45-0 at half time.
The second half brought about a change in the flow of the game. Roseland started to to be able to put Newquay under pressure by using the advantage of the strong wind and keeping Newquay pinned by deep in their own half.
With Roseland’s tails up and determined to come away with points they forced Newquay into an error and from the dropped ball centre Simon Strong hacked the ball on and won the foot race to score a well deserved Roseland try. Fly half Matt Eddy converted.
This was to be the end of the scoring for both sides despite both making forays into each other’s 22’s and also Eddy having a drop goal attempt just drift wide of the posts.
Roseland took a lot of confidence from the second half and theoretically won it 7-0. All 15 players that turned up and played put in a massive shift and done the Roseland shirt proud.
Next week Roseland complete the first half of league fixtures by entertaining Stithians at Philleigh (2:30 kick off) in their final match before Christmas. (please wear your Christmas jumpers…) It’s a huge fixture for Roseland as both them and Helston are on 32 points and Perranporth are on 30 and Helston entertain Perranporth on the same day.
Their are several different outcomes on who plays Cornwall One or Two rugby next year on the outcome of those two fixtures.
If Roseland win they get Cornwall 1 regardless of the other outcome.
I’ve just tried writing up all the other outcomes but there a bit to numerous so let’s just hope for a Roseland win.